State Bodies Reply to BAJ They Can Do Nothing About Arrests of Journalists

The Belarusian Association of Journalists addressed
to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the General
Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee, asking to take
actions in the cases of the recent arrests of Dzmitry Halko and
Aliaksandr Yarashevich.

We remind that Dzmitry Halko and Aliaksandr Yarashevich were detained after
covering an action of solidarity – civil activists welcomed people
coming out from Akrestsina prison. The journalists were arrested when
they were near a subway station, and sentenced to 10 and 12 days’
administrative arrests for “disobeying police’s demands”.

The Ministry of Justice, which was asked to ensure publicity of trials, answers that “procedural questions of a judicial hearing lie beyond its competence”.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, which was asked to ensure that police implement law and do not abuse their powers, briefly informs that “activities of law enforcement bodies are regulated by the “Law on Law Enforcement agencies”, and that “control and supervision are carried according to the procedure envisaged by legislation”.

The General Prosecutor’s Office, who was asked to
hold a check-up into the allegations of unlawful detentions, says the
arrested journalists have to file complaints by themselves: “If
the people mentioned in your address think that /…./ their rights and
lawful interests were violated, they have the right to complain to the
prosecutor’s office or to court themselves”.

The Investigative Committee, which was asked to
check if the actions of the policemen contained any components of crime
(with regard to article 198 of the Criminal Code, creating obstacles to
professional journalistic activities), says: “Since you do not
give any objective facts in your request which would indicate that the
employees of law enforcement agencies and employees of the court did
some actions falling under criminal liability, there are no grounds for
the Investigative Committee to hold a check-up, according to the Code of
Criminal Procedure of Belarus.”